We’d spent hours going over the same details that had nearly driven me to madness thirteen years before. What bothered me was that it appeared the fucker was a chameleon. I continued to tick off the years since in my mind one by one, trying to ascertain why his accusation had gotten the better of me.
Maybe because the riddle as to why I’d so easily crossed the line with Raven Intel had been solved.
Hours later, the team was all together. Maybe at this point we were throwing spitballs against the wall as I’d done so many times before with this case, but there were a few differences that needed to be ironed out.
All the beliefs I’d had about serial killers didn’t seem to apply to this man. It was entirely possible he’d been behind dozens of other murders because he’d switched styles.
“I got it.” Chase pushed away from the computer, throwing up his arms as if just making the winning soccer goal for the World Cup.
“What exactly do you have?” Kendrick asked.
I moved closer, staring over his shoulder, reading out loud what had been sent to him. “The brother’s name. Samuel and Steven Wells were born in Germany. The mother listed is Hannah Hoffman. Not bad. At least we have a confirmation.”
“And the father?”
“None listed.” Chase lifted his eyebrows.
“None listed,” I repeated. “What do you want to bet the man was a service member who worked on the Army base?”
“That would be killer,” Chase said.
“Maybe so, but without notification of the father, it doesn’t matter.”
“He’s right. Suspicions mean nothing at this point,” Gabriel reminded me.
“I’m surprised we got what we did.” Chase folded his arms. “Although I’ll keep searching for anything about the mother. Maybe their relationship wasn’t condoned, which is why the birth certificate was faked.”
“So they are identical twins.”
Pulling back, I glanced over my shoulder toward Hudson. “That won’t be on the birth certificate. What are the odds the hospital knows?”
Chase shrugged. “We can try, but it might not pan out.”
Gabriel sat up in his seat. “Wait. I’m no DNA expert, but since fraternal twins come from different eggs, there’s no chance in hell their DNA can be identical. That won’t solve your DNA issue.”
“No, typically fifty percent matches,” Chase offered. “However, you said so yourself the DNA evidence discovered was limited. And easy to cover up.”
“Or maybe he used his brother’s DNA. A complete frame job.”
Hudson’s idea wasn’t a bad one either. At this point, I wasn’t certain what to think any longer. “Ruger is discovering what happened to Samuel’s estate.” Hopefully something would come through soon.
While we were slowly putting the pieces together, it wasn’t happening fast enough for me.
“So what now, maestro?” Chase asked.
“Now, we push the killer’s buttons. He knows I’m in contact with the only woman he wasn’t able to keep in his twisted way. What he doesn’t know is how close she and I are.”
“You want to goad him.” Gabriel shook his head as if I was nuts for considering. Maybe I was.
“Why the hell not?”
Hudson whistled. “Because that’s dangerous as fuck. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“But the needle needs to be moved. There’s one week before the execution. That man doesn’t deserve to die and without doing something drastic, the fucker is going to continue playing games.”
“He’s right,” Chase told everyone. “Any ideas of how to push his buttons?”
Just by allowing my thoughts to drift to my houseguest, I had the answer. “Yes, I do. First, I’m going to a party.”
